After Dave Clouston established Two Rivers in 2004 and purchased his first vineyard, Brookby Hill, in 2016, he has now topped it off with a brand new, state of the art winery.

We broke ground on the 12th October 2017 and the winery was up and running on the 14th March 2018, the very same day vintage began – talk about cutting it fine! We’ve called it The Wine Studio and you can following the progress on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thewinestudionz/

The Wine Studio, situated between Marlborough’s two main valleys; The Wairau and Awatere, at Cloudy Bay Business Park, is still currently in phase one, allowing us to process approximately 500 tonne this harvest. Phase two will be completed in time for harvest 2019 and will bring our capacity up close to 1,200 tonnes.

“Having our own winery has given us more control over the winemaking process. It has enabled us to be more attuned to the wine, practice intuitive winemaking and be more reactive. It’s a super exciting time for Two Rivers.” notes Dave.

The Wine Studio will not only be the Two Rivers winemaking hub, it will also act as Two Rivers HQ. The team is excited to have a new home and be all housed together. The Wine Studio will also operate as a contract winemaking facility for a few of our close friends and we’re delighted to share the new facilities with likeminded winemakers from across our great region.

We have just purchased a beautiful 23 acre undulating hillside block in Marlborough’s Omaka Valley. The majority of the vineyard was planted in 2000 and now a total of 15 acres are planted with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Syrah and Viognier.

“It’s exciting times for Two Rivers – a real coming of age for the brand.” said Dave Clouston, who established Two Rivers in 2004. “After years of exploring, we’ve identified that the southern valleys of Marlborough are the best place to grow top-end Pinot Noir.

Brookby Hill Vineyard will really come into its own with the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and it’s a great feeling seeing the first fruit come off this block.” notes Dave. He’s also looking forward to making a Syrah – a first in the Two Rivers range.

Friends, family, growers and distributors gathered to celebrate the new vineyard and the first harvest with a long lunch on Brookby Hill.

Owner and winemaker, Dave Clouston, has been making Sauvignon Blanc since Two Rivers first vintage in 2004. Our flagship wine: ‘Convergence’ Sauvignon Blanc is a success story, enjoying worldwide acclaim, but by 2013 Dave wanted to try and make a less fruit driven, more complex, textural, age worthy style of Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough’s Southern Valleys… And thus the first ‘Altitude’ Sauvignon Blanc was born.

Two vintages on, we have just released our ‘Altitude’ Sauvignon Blanc 2015. This time, Dave has tweaked up the interesting notch further, adding a concrete egg component to the wine. 40% was wild fermented in a concrete egg tank, while 60% went wild in 8 year old hogshead barrels. The wine was then aged for 10 months in these vessels, with a small portion going through MLF.

“I think barrel is great for texture and weight but the egg gives the wine more purity, elegance and freshness while still adding texture and complexity,” says Dave.

“Concrete is slightly more porous than stainless steel, so it lets the wine evolve naturally and gain more complex, savoury characters.”

The oval shape of the egg tank also plays a unique role in the aging process. “As the accumulation of lees increases from the widest part of the tank to the narrower part, the lees slowly starts rolling over itself, allowing a continuously mixing of the lees without any external interruption of the wine,” explains Dave. “I’m not sure if the egg is better than barrel but I think it brings a certain intellectual component to the wine which I really enjoy.”

Dave believes Sauvignon Blanc should be cherished and this exciting example demonstrates how diverse and age worthy Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc can be.